The road to Durban + Drought | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/series/road-to-durban+drought
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From Cairo to the Cape, climate change begins to take hold of Africa | John Vidalhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/dec/01/cairo-cape-climate-change
The world's poorest communities have begun to experience extreme weather outside the natural variability of African climate. Without a rapid reduction in emissions, the continent faces calamitous temperature rises within this century<p>We are right on the equator, and Speke, Moebius, Elena, Savoia and Moore, the five great glaciers of the the Rwenzori, the Mountains of the Moon, glint in the bright Ugandan sun. Usually lost in the mists that cloak these peaks up to 5,100 metres high, the glaciers are the only major ones left of the 43 that were mapped and named in 1906. Then, the ice covered 7.5 square kilometres, now it is thought to cover less than one.</p><p>Surveys suggest most of the glaciers shrank by nearly half between 1987 and 2003. They will be measured again in January, but air temperatures in all the high tropics have risen several degrees in a few generations and, says the British hydrologist <a href="http://www.geog.ucl.ac.uk/~rtaylor/" title="">Richard Taylor of University College London</a>, it's likely that the equatorial ice known to the ancient Greeks will almost certainly have disappeared in 20-30 years.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/dec/01/cairo-cape-climate-change">Continue reading...</a>Climate changeEnvironmentAfricaWorld newsDurban climate change conference 2011Global climate talksGlobal developmentGreenhouse gas emissionsDroughtNatural disasters and extreme weatherGreen politicsThu, 01 Dec 2011 12:04:45 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/dec/01/cairo-cape-climate-changeNic Bothma/EPAepa03018569 Members of civil society groups protest outside the International Convention Center which is holding the COP 17 / CMP 7 United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference 2011 in Durban, South Africa 29 November 2011. COP 17 is the 17th session of the Congress of the Parties (COP) comprising 194 countries meeting to discuss the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) between 28 November and 09 December 2011. EPA/NIC BOTHMA Photograph: Nic Bothma/EPAJohn Vidal, environment editor2011-12-01T12:04:45ZKenya – ensuring Wangari Maathai's legacy branches outhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/nov/24/kenya-wangari-maathai-legacy-trees
Illegal logging and drought have ravaged Kenya's forests and threaten its water supply, now the government has embraced Maathai's Green Belt Movement, planting 450m trees this year<p>Wangari Maathai, the Nobel prize-winning founder of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/26/wangari-maathai-nobel-winner-dies" title="">died in October</a>, but her group, which has worked with communities across Africa to plant tens of millions of trees, is thriving.</p><p></p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/nov/24/kenya-wangari-maathai-legacy-trees">Continue reading...</a>Durban climate change conference 2011Climate changeGlobal climate talksDroughtWaterTrees and forestsDeforestationConservationEnvironmentKenyaWorld newsGreen politicsThu, 24 Nov 2011 11:22:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/nov/24/kenya-wangari-maathai-legacy-treesSven Torfinn/The GuardianDuncan Okoth of the Green Belt Movement planting a tree near Kenya's Tanzanian border. Photograph: Sven Torfinn for the GuardianSven Torfinn/The GuardianDuncan Okoth, Corporate Officer of The Greenbelt Movement planting a tree near the Tanzanian border of Kojiado District, Kenya. The Green Belt Movement organizes women in rural Kenya to plant trees, combat deforestation and it was etablished by Nobel Peace prize Professor Wangari Maathai in 1977. Photograph: Sven Torfinn/The GuardianJohn Vidal in Kenya2011-11-24T11:22:08ZDrier, hotter: can Egypt escape its climate future? | John Vidalhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/nov/18/egypt-climate-change
John Vidal begins his African climate journey in Egypt, which is experiencing rising temperatures, coastal erosion, storms and water scarcity<p></p><p>&quot;Is climate change happening? Yes. Is it serious? Yes. We know sea level rise is happening but it's very slow and steady, millimetres over a decade. But the effect it is being aggravated by the increasing intensity of storms. Last year saw the worst [storms] in decades. The last few years have seen temperature spikes, with nights becoming unbearably hot and then switching to freezing cold. But the real issues are groundwater and soil salination.&quot;</p><p>&quot;The [models] range from suggesting Egypt will have 30% more water, because of hotter weather, to 70% less, because of evaporation. The government is very uncertain but is deeply concerned about irrigation works taking place in Sudan and Ethiopia.&quot;</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/nov/18/egypt-climate-change">Continue reading...</a>Climate changeDurban climate change conference 2011EnvironmentEgyptMiddle East and North AfricaAfricaWorld newsGlobal climate talksDroughtWaterSea levelEnvironmental sustainabilityGlobal developmentGreen politicsFri, 18 Nov 2011 12:35:48 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/nov/18/egypt-climate-changeJon Bower/CorbisA view of haze due to pollution over Cairo. Photograph: Jon Bower/CorbisJon Bower/CorbisA view of haze due to pollution over skyline of Cairo with the Menkaure Pyramid in the Foreground, Giza, Egypt, 7 December 2010. Photograph: Jon Bower/CorbisJohn Vidal in Cairo2011-11-18T12:35:48Z